ACADIAN-CAJUN-L Archives

From: "Scott Michaud" <>
Subject: [ACADIAN-CAJUN] Lest we forget
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 17:16:30 -0500

We're in the middle of December right now, preparing for the holidays, but
take a moment to remember...

Right around now, in 1758, some time between December 10 and December 15,
during the Acadian expulsion of Prince Edward Island, some 700 Acadians died
when their decrepit and overcrowded ships sank crossing the Atlantic for
France. Sir Arthur Doughty, Canada's first Dominion Archivist and Keeper of
the Public Records, wrote about this some time after 1904:

"The largest of these transports was the Duke William; another was named the
Violet.... Nine transports sailed in consort, but were soon caught in a
violent tempest and scattered. On December 10 the Duke William came upon the
Violet in a sinking condition; and notwithstanding all efforts at rescue,
the Violet went down with nearly four hundred souls. Meanwhile the Duke
William herself had sprung a leak. For a time she was kept afloat by empty
casks in the hold, but presently it became evident that the ship was
doomed...an explosion occurred and the Duke William went down, taking three
hundred persons to a watery grave

Je me souviens...

-- Scott Michaud
http://MichaudBarn.com

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• [ACADIAN-CAJUN] Lest we forget by "Scott Michaud" <>